Practice Flag Football Wide Receiver Drills to Increase Completion Percentage

Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes

Does your flag football team suffer from offensive anemia? Does your passing stat sheet look more like your success rate with the girls at the bar on a Friday night (0 for 17)? Once again, Illegal Motion is here to help — with the passing game at least.

One of the best ways to ensure a higher completion percentage is to always have your receivers and your QB on the same page. If the receiver knows how to run crisp routes, and knows to sit down (not literally, smartass) in a soft spot against zone coverage, your chances of moving the ball increase dramatically, especially if your QB can throw an accurate pass to a wide open receiver. It’s important to practice with this concept in mind; it’s always easier to hit a guy that’s open and standing still, than it is to hit a guy running full speed on a dig route. With that being said, there’s definitely a place for digs and post routes in flag football, and they can be deadly weapons to have in your offensive arsenal. Focus on spot routes, curls, and comebacks first, then work your way up to the digs, posts, and corners.

There are tons of great practice drills for the vast array of receiver routes and passing attacks out there, but for today we’re going to hone in on the spot drill.

This drill will have you hooking up more often than Ben Roethlisberger in no time!

(on the field of course)

Here’s what you’ll need:

• A QB
• Some receivers
• A football
• 3 cones (or the leftover beer pong cups from the Shuttle Drill)

Here’s how you do it:

1. Have two of the receivers line up in the slot positions on each side of the QB.
2. Place a cone about 5-7 yards from the line of scrimmage directly in front of each receiver, and the QB.
3. On the snap, the receivers run a curl route (one at a time, and alternate). They get vertical as quickly as possible, get to the cone and break down into the curl. The ball should be delivered on time, as the receiver is making the break. Do this several times for each receiver.
4. After the curl routes, have the receivers run to the middle “spot” and break down the route directly in front of the middle cone. They should square up to the QB and not drift after breaking down. This technique is used on spot routes and routes that have the receiver “sitting” in a soft spot vs. zone. Do this several times for each receiver.
5. Next, have the receivers go vertical again on the snap, and run an “in” route or “dig” at the first cone, where the receiver makes a 90 degree cut across the middle. The ball should be delivered directly over the middle cone as the receiver reaches that area of the field. Do this several times for each receiver.

You can also move the cones further away from the line of scrimmage for deeper versions, and feel free to arrange the cones for practicing different and more difficult routes. Another variation would include adjusting the receiver alignment on each side.

Take a look at this video to see how the drill should look.

This is a good drill to work on the fundamentals of route running and timing. It gets the Illegal Motion stamp of approval, which virtually guarantees that it will improve your flag football experience and performance.